You don’t have to look far today to be reminded that the world is not a nice place. In fact, you just have to watch the evening news to see that strife, poverty, hunger, cruelty, greed, violence, chaos and suffering abound. It’s incredibly disheartening and, yet, we’ve almost become inoculated to the horrors around us, since this is such a prevalent part of our existence.
As a result, we’ve basically trained ourselves to be introspective crusaders. As long as our lives are in order, and the outside world does not have an adverse effect on us, everything will be alright.
However, this poses a relevant question. With everyone so caught up in their own lives and problems, have good deeds and kindness become a rarity? I think the unfortunate answer is generally ‘yes’ – although, every now and then, a memorable ray of hope shines through and you’re reminded of the beauty of humanity.
This was highlighted when I recently did some volunteer work. The aim was to raise awareness for a charity and sell some merchandise to the passing public. Most people rushed past me, barely even making eye contact or stopping to listen to what I had to say. I soon found myself wondering at this seemingly ‘rude’ behaviour. Are people’s lives so busy, these days, that they can’t even slow down for two minutes? Why are we always in such a hurry? I mean, it’s not going to kill you to just acknowledge another person’s presence, make fleeting eye contact or simply shake your head in dismissal. Or, are we so bombarded by needy people every day that we just can’t bear to face them anymore? And, what has caused us to become so insensitive to others?
Needless to say, after an hour with little success at my task, I began to feel a bit despondent.
But, then, a beautiful thing happened. Two men came along and, to my surprise, they actually stopped to listen. It was only after I’d started speaking to them that I realised the one man was blind. Out of the hundreds of people who had zoomed past me as though I was infected with the plague, it was a blind man who finally stopped to listen and who actually took the time to ‘see’ me. How ironic! This man talked to me, bought some merchandise, shook my hand and ultimately left me feeling more inspired to continue with my task.
About an hour later, I was even more surprised to see these two, unassuming gentlemen heading back towards me. My first thought was that perhaps they were dissatisfied with their purchase. So, I was totally gobsmacked when they very kindly produced two cans of coke and two bottles of water for me and my fellow volunteer. They thought we might be thirsty, since we were standing outside in the heat.
“Wow! What amazing men!”
I was truly overwhelmed by their random act of kindness and generosity. There I was trying to do something to help someone else and, in turn, a complete stranger was thinking about my welfare. How incredible!
To me, there are few things more beautiful than witnessing a random act of kindness – never mind being on the receiving end. In a dog-eat-dog world, showing a total stranger love and compassion is the ultimate act of humanity. It reminds me of what it actually means to be human and how we can make the choice to embrace our humanity each and every day.
Truth be told, when I’m not volunteering, I’m just as guilty of rushing past and not paying enough attention. But, really, where am I rushing to? I need to slow down, look people in the eye and acknowledge them (even if I can’t or don’t want to help them). It’s easy to forget that even the smallest deeds can make a big difference to someone else’s life. As Ronald Reagan said:
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
Audrey Whyte 
Leave a comment